Uhuru Quilters Guild home page

Next Meeting:
Mar 17, 2007

  Agenda:

  10:00 a.m.
  Fons & Porter Study Group

  11:30 a.m.
  Business Meeting

  12:30 p.m.
  Refreshments

  1:00 p.m.
  Show n Tell/Collection of Quilts for G Street Fabrics Display

Note:  Please turn all cell phones to vibrate during the Uhuru Guild meeting.

A quilt is a blanket of love

Coordinator's Corner

February was an active month for Uhuru: a successful trip to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, a hit trunk show at the Library of Congress, a well-attended kick-off for the Fons & Porter Study Group. Judging the reaction of the members to Renea's introduction of the Block of the Month series, it, too, should be a hit. Charm Squares are also growing in popularity. Kudos to Sandra Ealey for her contributions with the Heart-2-Heart project. Members who turned in quilts for the Library of Congress trunk show, please be prepared to pick up your quilt or arrange for someone to collect it for you.

Our March meeting coincides with National Quilting Day. First proposed at the National Quilting Association show in 1991, National Quilting Day gives quilters the opportunity to reflect with pride in the traditions of quiltmaking and the contributions quiltmakers have made to their families and communities for many generations. Visit www.nqaquilts.org for more information. March is also Women's History Month. The 2007 theme, "Generations of Women Moving History Forward,” presents special opportunities to highlight some critically important historic events, including the 50th anniversary of the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, and the 30th anniversary of the National Women’s Conference in Houston, Texas. Let's showcase any quilts made in honor of Women's History Month or National Quilting Day at Show 'n Tell.

Upcoming Uhuru projects to be discussed at our business meeting include the 2008 Raffle Quilt, this year's Community Service project, the exhibit at G Street Fabrics' Rockville store, and our possible participation in the opening of the Gee's Bend Exhibit in collaboration with the African-American Quilters of Baltimore at the Walters Museum in Baltimore in June.

It's time for the Guild to renew its membership in the National Quilting Association (NQA). If you are a member of NQA, please let me know your membership number for our application. If you would like to know more about NQA, information will be available.

Sewfully,
Carol

Test your quilting knowledge with this quiz for National Quilting Month: http://www.pbs.org/americaquilts/fun/index.html

Fons & Porter Study Group by Carol Williams

This year our workshops will mainly focus on completing the blocks for the sampler featured in Quilters Complete Guide by Marianne Fons and Liz Porter. We will be following the skills-based curriculum which was distributed at the January meeting.

• Quilters Complete Guide by Fons & Porter (any edition)
• 1/4 yd each of 3 fabrics
• Ruled square, 9.5" or larger (optional)
• Basic Sewing Kit [hand sewing needles, pins, thread(s) to match and/or neutral, scissors and/or thread snips, seam ripper, rotary cutter and small mat, ruler, pins, glue stick, pencil, tweezers, thimble]

Machine Piecing:              

• Sewing machine in good condition with feet (open toe, quarter inch, etc.)
• power strip and/or extension cord

The Charm Exchange Cornelia Carter-Sykes, Chair

The theme for the March Charm Square Exchange is "Yellow." The following 11 (eleven) people signed up: Sandra Ealy, Yvonne Nickens, Cornelia Carter-Sykes, Deb Sanger, Shirley Hodge, Rosa Williams, Pat King, Pat Johnson, Nadine Mills, Charlene Marshall, and DJ Johnson.

To see the complete 2007 Charm Square schedule, as well as a description of each month's selection, visit the Charm Squares page.

Cut 6-1/2” (six-and-one-half-inch) squares of 100% pre-washed cotton (please make sure that the size and quality of your squares are what you yourself would like to receive). Please remember to cut off the selvedges before you cut your squares. Place squares in a baggie with your name on it, and put it in the "Charm Squares" basket.

If you have any questions, please e-mail or telephone Cornelia. If you have signed up and then are unable to come to the meeting, please mail squares or have them delivered to the meeting. If the number of exchanges is small enough, charm squares will be sorted and distributed before the end of the meeting.

Birthday/Hospitality The Hospitality Quintuplets: "CC" Campbell-Flowe, Dawn Felix, Jocelyn Herbert, Pat Johnson, Deb Sanger

The Hospitality Committee would like to offer light refreshments, i.e., beverage, fruit, cookies. Any member is invited to bring items to share. When the refreshment period begins, please put away all quilts and materials. This will prevent any damage to your valuable items. Upon completion of the refreshment period, please dispose of unfinished food and drinks before we open Show N Tell or continue a workshop. 

When you bring food, please assist me in the cleanup after refreshments have been served. We want to ensure that the room is back to its original order before leaving the Center. Thanks! 

A Very Happy Birthday to Willie Mae Miller (4th); Vinnie Best (18th); and Winifred Wallace (25th)

Sew Help Me. . .
Tips to boost your creativity

A Good Substitute for Pigma Pens

Recently I needed to buy some of those Pigma pens used by quiltmakers everywhere (I think its a "law" that it has to be a genuine Pigma pen and you have to pay through the nose). After checking G Street Fabrics, JoAnn's and Hancock's and not finding any, I decided to stop wasting my time.

Here are two pens by Skilcraft that work just as well:

Skilcraft Free Ink Roller Ball 0.5
The writing on the barrel says "Permanent, Non Fading Pigmented Ink"

Skilcraft Liquid Magnus Roller Ball (0.5 mm microfine)
The barrel says "Fadeproof / Waterproof Pigmented Ink"

You can get both of these pens from office supply stores and grocery stores, and they have all the qualities you look for in a pigma pen - waterproof, fadeproof, permanent, pigmented ink. An added bonus -- because the points are hard, they won't get damaged like the pigma pens can do if you press too hard.

Just Sew You Know. . .

Bernina will launch a new internet-based program for quilters on April 2 -- "The Quilt Show" -- hosted by Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. The show will consist of 13 online episodes plus chat rooms, weblogs, quilt forums and more. The show will feature education, ideas, entertainment and inspiration.

Basic membership is free; premium membership is $29.95 per season. Special Gold Star Charter member offer: If you join now through April 1, you pay $16.95 (30% discount). Charter members can watch all 13 episodes and have full access to World Quilt Community features.

For more detailed information and to watch a show, check their web site at http://www.thequiltshow.com.

2007 Block of the Month - "Twelve Days Of Christmas" Renea Bailey, Chair

View the lyrics of "The Twelve Days Of Christmas" by clicking the link at the left.

Web sites and books on Applique:
http://www.quilt.com/HowTo/AppliqueHowToPage.html
http://quilting.about.com/od/appliqutechniques/Learn_How_to_Applique.htm
http://www.roserushbrooke.com/how-to-applique-1.html
http://www.quilterscache.com/StartQuiltingPages/startquiltingfour.html
“The Easy Art of Applique: Techniques for Hand, Machine, and Fusible Applique” by Mimi Dietrich & Rox Eppler
“Hand Applique with Alex Anderson”
“The New Applique Sampler: Learn to Applique the Piece O’Cake Way” by Becky Goldsmith, Linda Jenkins

March Block of the Month - Three Prayin' Preachers. Finished size is 10-1/2 X 10-1/2. Get the pattern in pdf. Note: The pattern is password-protected. If you have problems printing out the block, Renea will have copies available at the March meeting.